Put t'kettle on. It's time for a natter.

THINGS TO DO: Visiting Egglestone Abbey

When it comes down to it, my favourite thing about being back home is exploring t’north again. Luckily, my folks are pretty on board with this and when I suggested a picnic to mark the end of summer, they quickly agreed. While I was in charge of the actual picnic, I left the spot to them and they really pulled it out of the bag.

They chose Egglestone Abbey, an English Heritage site near Barnard Castle. The ruins are free to enter and welcome dogs so we packed up the car on a Sunday lunchtime and headed over. We were took our time exploring; although there’s not much there, it’s packed full of history. I found it both charming and intriguing. It also offers some pretty lovely views of the local countryside. A lot of the remains date from the 13th century so it’s pretty cool to see.

There’s also some walks nearby that I think we’re going to try next time we’re there! I think you can even walk to Barnard Castle itself, and it takes you along the river so I have to admit I am tempted to try it, even though that’s not usually my cup of tea.

While the weather was lovely when we arrived, by the time we decided to sit down with our picnic, the wind had picked up. As such, my camera stayed tucked away and we ate quite quickly. I still enjoyed it but it certainly felt like a more ‘authentic’ British summer picnic, especially when the bags were almost blown away! But there is something about the imperfect memories that makes them stick around, isn’t there?